The Problem of Evil

according to God’s Creation Plan. Human beings possess freedom for the sake of the test they are being put to while on earth. (Quran, 67:2). The planning of the Lord of the universe is to see who among them, despite possessing free will, chooses not to misuse it but instead uses it correctly so that He may bless the virtuous with His rewards (Quran, 13:22). The existing system of the world will remain only until the examination process is complete. After the completion of this period, the Master of the earth will take the administration of the earth directly into His own hands, just as He is holding the administration of the rest of the universe directly in His hands (Quran, 19:40). At that time, the good people and the evil people will be separated from each other (Quran, 3:197). The good people will attain eternal paradise, while the evil ones will be cast into the universal dustbin and be eternally deprived. The present world is, therefore, a place where men and women are being selected from the entire human history to inhabit the Divine World—Paradise—in the Hereafter. Who will be considered worthy of becoming inhabitants of Paradise? It will be only those who, despite being free, willingly submit to and faithfully follow God’s commands. It will be those people who abide by God’s will without being compelled to do so. In the present world, when the test of human beings is still underway, all sorts of good and bad people are present on earth together. But after the test period is over, only virtuous people will be deemed worthy of the eternal world of Paradise (Quran, 21:105).